Biography K. Petersen

K. Gunnor Petersen (1905-1982)

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1905, he came to the US with his parents at the age of nine. The family settled in Illinois where, as a boy, he worked on farms, handling animals. Horses became a favorite study and later, one of his most interesting subjects. He chose art at an early age and completed courses in art and portrait painting at the Chicago Art Institute under Oberteuffer. He also studied privately under J. Wellington Reynolds. After studying advertising illustration at the Chicago Academy of Arts and taking course work in anatomy at the New York Students League under Bridgman, he began a career as art director and illustrator in Chicago.